Backed by investors such as China's Fosun International Ltd and private equity firms General Atlantic LLC, Advent International and Warburg Pincus LLC, the newcomers have already lured more than 10% of the 2.98 trillion reais ($736 billion) invested by Brazilians in local mutual funds, stocks and bonds.

Brazil's Banco Bradesco SA beat analysts' second-quarter profit estimates on Thursday, helped by strength in consumer lending and fees, as well as a decline in loan loss provisions. Bradesco's loan book grew in the second quarter at a faster pace, expanding 8.7% year-on-year due largely to consumer loans, compared to a 3.1% rise in the prior quarter. Bradesco's second-quarter loan loss provisions fell by 0.1% from a year earlier to 3.487 billion reais.

Brazilian digital lender Banco Inter SA has hired the investment banking units of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Banco BTG Pactual, Banco Bradesco SA, Goldman Sachs and Banco Santander Brasil to manage a 1 billion-reais ($263 million) share offering, one source with knowledge of the matter said. The bank announced on Thursday that its board had approved a program to list units comprised of one common share and two preferred shares. Currently, only preferred shares in Banco Inter are listed.

Brazil's state-controlled bank Caixa Economica Federal SA is challenging a decision by corruption-ensnared conglomerate Odebrecht SA to include one of its units' foreign bondholders in its bankruptcy protection filing, according to a document filed in the court case. Among the 21 Odebrecht affiliates that filed for the bankruptcy proceeding two weeks ago was Odebrecht Finance, the issuer of $3 billion in bonds guaranteed by the group's construction unit OEC. Caixa said in the document, filed late on Monday, that Odebrecht's move to include those bondholders in the bankruptcy case was designed to reduce the voting power of other creditors.

Odebrecht SA's failure to sell its controlling stake in petrochemical company Braskem SA to LyondellBasell Industries NV and lack of cash are complicating the task of restructuring 80 billion reais ($20.67 billion) in debt owed by the corruption-ensnared conglomerate, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. The conglomerate was counting on Braskem dividends to service its debt. LyondellBasell said on Tuesday it ended talks with Odebrecht SA to buy Braskem "after careful consideration" but did not elaborate further.

Prosecutors in Brazil criticized compliance standards at Brazilian bank Banco Bradesco SA on Tuesday, after requesting that a federal court issue an arrest warrant for two branch managers allegedly involved in a vast money laundering scheme. In a statement, federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro asked for the temporary jailing of Tânia Maria Aragão de Souza Fonseca and Robson Luiz Cunha Silva, both bank managers in the city.